Synchronous learning is online or distance education that happens in real time, often with a set class schedule and required login times. Asynchronous learning does not require real-time interaction; instead, content is available online for students to access when it best suits their schedules, and assignments are completed to deadlines. 

Yes. DOH requires everyone in a school building or on a school bus to wear a face covering, with specific exemptions identified in the guidance. 

Yes! You just need to fill out this form  https://ntps.news/ridethebus 

If a student is marked absent from scheduled in-person learning, the school will call home on the day of the absence to find out the reason for the absence.

Please contact your school principal immediately if you or someone in your household tests positive for COVID-19. This will help us stop the spread!

Do not send a student to school if they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. If a student has no COVID-19 symptoms but has been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, the student and their siblings/household will be required to quarantine at home for 14 days and not come to school per Thurston County Public Health. You must contact a healthcare provider to determine if COVID-19 testing is necessary.

Specialists will serve students via their computer (in real time) on their home learning days. Check your school schedule.  

We adjusted our in-person learning to our ACT day schedule (releasing 90 minutes early) to support teacher planning and collaboration, maximize student and staff safety by reducing exposure and reducing transitions; and allow teacher time to support students who need enrichment or remediation.  

If school is canceled because of a snow day or weather-related reason we will cancel all instruction for that day, including remote learning. If there is a late start, instruction will begin 3 hours later than scheduled. More details will be provided on that day via School Messenger.  

Recess will be outside as much as possible, weather permitting. Masks need to be worn.  

Each school will let students know of any unique supplies needed. A backpack and general supplies will be fine (the district also can provide school supplies and backpacks to students who need them - let your school counselor know!). Students can leave their Chromebooks at home as we will have enough Chromebooks for students to use at school. We will also have student-size masks available if a student forgets his/her mask.

Each school will have a designated plan for bathroom breaks. Staff will monitor student traffic to make sure safety protocols are followed.  

Daily curbside Grab and Go meal service and 5 day meal kits are available for asynchronous days and for 100% remote learners. 

Our delivery model may change as more grades are added to hybrid learning, but we will keep families in the loop!

Do not send a student to school if they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. If a student has no COVID-19 symptoms but has been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, the student and their siblings/household will be required to quarantine at home for 14 days and not come to school per Thurston County Public Health. You must contact a healthcare provider to determine if COVID-19 testing is necessary.

If a student has COVID-19 symptoms at school, the student will be isolated immediately and sent home. Please ensure your student’s emergency contact information is up-to date. When your student is picked up, you must contact a healthcare provider to determine if COVID-19 testing is necessary. Unless there is an alternative diagnosis, the student will need to stay home for 10 days per Thurston County Public Health.

There are many locations in Thurston County offering COVID-19 testing. Some locations have drive-thru or walk-up testing services while others offer appointments in their clinics. Since every location handles testing differently, please call ahead of time.

• English: COVID-19 Testing Locations
• Spanish: Localidades de la prueba COVID-19
• Vietnamese: Địa điểm xét nghiệm COVID-19

Starting in March 2021 there is also a new free, drive-through COVID-19 testing site for NTPS staff and students at ESD 113 in Tumwater. Learn more >>

If you have questions about your student’s health and ability to attend school, please contact your school nurse. Our goal is to help keep everyone safe and healthy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Please note that SeaMar Walk-In Clinic is open 7 days a week 9 a.m.-8 p.m. at 3622 Ensign Rd NE, Ste A, Olympia.  Please call first! 360-742-5000. Many SeaMar providers speak more than one language.

Local school districts and Thurston Co. Public Health and Social Services (PHSS) have developed a Communication Plan for both students and staff. It will be based on different circumstances and privacy guidelines. Our schools will not contact families about a single confirmed COVID-19 case. If PHSS notifies us of a COVID-19 outbreak, our schools will contact the families of students and staff from the affected shared location. We will suspend in-person instruction for students in this specific shared location and shift to remote instruction. Our custodial staff will thoroughly clean and sanitize the affected area based on COVID-19 exposure cleaning protocols. Download the flow chart from the Thurston County Public Health website.

If you test positive or are in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, someone from the local health department will contact you. Close contact is defined as “less than 6 feet apart, with or without a face covering, for 15 or minutes or more.” Download one-pager from the DOH website

An outbreak is defined as  two or more students or staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19, who are linked through a shared location, like a classroom or school bus, and did not have significant contact outside the school grounds. 

Superintendent Clemens and other Thurston County Superintendents have been meeting weekly with officials from the Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department (TCPHSSD).  Based on COVID-19 data, including the number of confirmed cases and the rate of increase, the TCPHSSD recommends all K-12 schools to remain closed to in-person general instruction for the 2020 fall term. Districts may elect to offer in-person learning opportunities to groups of no more than five students, provided the district follows all state and local health and safety requirements. Additionally, Governor Inslee announced recommendations from the Department of Health for resuming in-person instruction in public and private K-12 education; the plan allows local health departments and school districts to decide if and how they will allow students back in the classroom.

See sample daily schedules on our Remote Learning 2.0 page: https://www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/Page/24877

Full details will be coming from your school directly. Make sure your contact information is up-to-date with the school office.

Remote learning will not just be the simple conversion of the in-person school into a digital format. In many cases, it must be re-thought and redesigned to match how learning is best experienced in the virtual environment.  Remote learning is full instruction addressing the same content, standards, and grading as in-person schools with different delivery mechanisms and different options for engagement and representation of the learning. 

We know continuous learning in the spring was not perfect. There was no playbook for what schools had to do when we immediately switched to a remote learning model.  However, we have learned, and we’ve listened, and we are working to make the remote learning experience better. 

Please stay connected to your child’s school. You can contact your child’s school at any time with questions and concerns about your child’s education. 

More information about the Remote Learning: https://www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/remotelearning

In accordance with public health guidelines from Thurston County, all students are currently 100% remote learning. We are continuing to plan to bring back our youngest learners (Preschool and Kindergarten) first, when public health says it is okay to do so. Parents who choose to keep their child in remote learning may do so. 

We will follow OSPI guidelines to report enrollment and attendance regardless of whether the student is 100% remote learning or part of any in-person learning. Please see https://www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/attendancematters for more details on how attendance is taken and more.

We will be providing special education instruction as guided by OSPI. Families case manager and the IEP team will work directly with families around specific student needs and services.

We will be holding our Special Education Preschool as we did in the spring and it will be remote with more communication from teachers & support staff — enrolled families will be contacted directly.

Following the district's plan, Envision Career Academy is planning to operate 100% Remote Learning through the end of the first quarter.

Plans are in the works for running these courses safely. Students registered for these types of courses will be directly contacted with the process and guidelines for participating per safety protocols and staged opening guidelines.

We still have some great online resources to help support extra online learning this summer and at home this fall. https://www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/keeplearning

Homeschool is an official designation withdrawing your child from North Thurston Public Schools and instructing them at home. See more information on the homeschooling page: www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/homeschool

In accordance with the DOH and the Governor’s new Roadmap to Recovery and the WIAA’s Healthy Washington Sport and Activity Guidelines we are planning to restart high school athletics as soon as our region is in Phase 2. The earliest start would be Feb 1^st. The WIAA details as of Friday, January 15 (and subject to change) are as follows:

ADJUSTED SPORTS SEASONS: NTPS will try to have 3 sport seasons between February 1 and the end of the school year.

1. Season 1 will:
1. Include our usual fall sports: Football, Volleyball, XC, Girls Swimming, Girls Soccer.  (Exception: Boys Tennis will be moved to season 3)
2. Start as soon as our region gets into Phase 2.
   1. The earliest start date will be Feb. 1 (Since our information from DOH is released every Friday, if we are not in phase 2 on Feb. 1, we will try for the following Monday Feb. 8, and if not then, then Feb 15, and so on).
2. Seasons 2 and 3 have not been finalized yet, however Season 2 would most likely be our usual spring sports and Season 3 our usual winter sports.

NEW LEAGUE: As you may have heard, we have temporarily formed a new league (South Sound Conference South) to help teams stay local which will help with consistency, travel time, and the availability to play based on the phase we are in. All schools in our league will be in the same region. Things to note:

• Our seasons will be modified and compete only within our region at this time.
• South Sound Conference South – will include Yelm, Capital, Olympia, North Thurston, River Ridge and Timberline high schools.

STUDENT ATHLETES: Students planning to play in Season 1 need to complete and turn in paperwork for clearance, so they are ready to go on the first day. Good news to note: The district has determined that we will not charge any athletic participation fees this year.

SPECTATORS: Due to COVID-19, spectators will not be permitted for Season 1 at this time.  Schools are currently working on ways to stream and broadcast some games. 

Our Family Youth Resource Center, 200 Sleater-Kinney Road, will serve families with 'drive up and go' hygiene bags, food and warm hats/coats/gloves on Tuesdays, 9-11 am and Thursdays, 1-3 pm. They also have an online comprehensive list of many other community resources at https://www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/communityresources

We know there are many families providing essential services to our community. Childcare Aware Washington is a resource that helps parents locate quality childcare. You can also call them at 1-800-446-1114. Additionally, if you or families you know who are required to work (not just emergency responders) still need childcare, please contact one of our community partners, Y Care and Lacey Boys and Girls Club (360) 438-6811. Cielo and TOGETHER! may also have educational resources to help. Or check out this regional child care map hosted by ESD113. For more community resources, see our Community Resources Directory.

We will have free grab-and-go meals available to students during remote learning, in convenient weekly meal kits for families! To view meal service options please visit: https://www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/remotemeals >>

6th Graders, 9th Graders, and newly registered secondary students will be contacted by their schools to pick up new Chromebooks prior to school start. Elementary schools are distributing Chromebooks to any PreK-5th families that need them. School offices will be in contact with families to share their distribution days for students.

Review and try the troubleshooting steps by visiting the Chromebook Troubleshooting page

If troubleshooting doesn't resolve your issue, there are instructions for next steps on that page.

If your family lacks internet access, there are numerous options available to help get your student connected to the internet for Remote Learning. See all the current options including a free state-subsidized internet connection through OSPI >>

We are upgrading the Wi-Fi coverages at many of our facilities. Visit the Internet Access page for coverage maps and other information >> If you visit a school to connect to Wi-Fi, please connect to NTPS-Guest and accept the user agreement to access the internet.

The Lacey Timberland Regional Library also has Wi-Fi access from their parking lot.

We utilize School Messenger as our communication portal which automates phone calls, emails and texts directly to families using the numbers/addresses we have on file. You can activate your account with the email address we have on file at https://go.schoolmessenger.com and customize the settings for what types of messages go where.

Make sure your contact information is up-to-date with your school as School Messenger will be the primary way with contact you with information as the situation changes.